***Official*** Australia in Sri Lanka

[Spikey]

first time they've faced him in SL innit

 

[pup11]

Mendis is always gonna be more threatening on pitches that are offering a bit of help of the surface he is a bit like Kumble in that regard, just keeps bowling at the stumps and then depends on natural variations off the wicket.

Most teams who haven't played against him much tend to keep playing for the turn all the time and that's why some of them end up playing across the wrong line.

Most people might say these are T20's and results don't matter much but what these two loses have done is that it has given the Lankans the blueprint to destroy Australians in the upcoming ODI and test series.

Its not as if Lankans won't have attacked Australians with spin in the first case but now having seen their haplessness against spin first hand in these T20's, one can be rest assured that now the pitches for the remainder of the tour would be even more spin friendly.

 

[Burgey]

Mendis is always gonna be more threatening on pitches that are offering a bit of help of the surface he is a bit like Kumble in that regard, just keeps bowling at the stumps and then depends on natural variations off the wicket.

Most teams who haven't played against him much tend to keep playing for the turn all the time and that's why some of them end up playing across the wrong line.

Most people might say these are T20's and results don't matter much but what these two loses have done is that it has given the Lankans the blueprint to destroy Australians in the upcoming ODI and test series.

Its not as if Lankans won't have attacked Australians with spin in the first case but now having seen their haplessness against spin first hand in these T20's, one can be rest assured that now the pitches for the remainder of the tour would be even more spin friendly.

I get what you're saying mate, but tbf, Watson aside, who's in the Test side from that batting order? Haddin is I suppose, but it's a completely different line up I think.

It's still a decent point mind, we've been mud against spin in all forms of LO cricket for two plus years now.

 

[pup11]

It's a problem in Tests, yes, but you couldn't complain if he kept getting 25 ball 50s in T20. Not much of a problem for him in ODI's either, weirdly. Can remember a few massive hundreds in the last year or two.

Not really trying to criticise him but its just not right on his part to get out as soon as he gets a 50 which is something he does so often, I mean look at the Sri Lankan side in the first game Dilshan batted through whereas in the next game Mahela went onto score big runs.

In the sub-continent its highly important to make your starts count because its not an easy thing to start off against spin for a new batsman, that's the reason why once you get your eye in you shouldn't throw your wicket away as a batsman.

 

[Julian87]

That 'shot' from Marsh is probably the dumbest I have seen from a top order player in international cricket. Well on track to being the biggest waste f talent (technically and natural hand eye stuff) Australia has had with the bat. The more I see him play in any format the more it seems he will never have the temperament at any format at the top level.

 

[pup11]

I get what you're saying mate, but tbf, Watson aside, who's in the Test side from that batting order? Haddin is I suppose, but it's a completely different line up I think.

It's still a decent point mind, we've been mud against spin in all forms of LO cricket for two plus years now.

Marsh is in there as well but that's not the point, the thing is it won't have mattered even if Clarke, Ponting and Mussey were playing yesterday because its unlikely they would have played him any differently.

Like you said we have been awful against spin especially in LO cricket over the last two years and that's simply because we are too chicken **** to attack spinners, we have never been great technical players of spin even in the past but one thing we did well back in the day was not allow bowlers especially spinners settle down when they came into bowl.

Likes of Hayden, Symonds, Ponting, Gilly, Martyn, Clarke (of 2007) all had their own ways to tackle spin but all of them did it by attacking spin bowlers , that approach has changed and we are just way too cautious nowadays and that just plays into the hands of the opposition.

 

[pup11]

That 'shot' from Marsh is probably the dumbest I have seen from a top order player in international cricket. Well on track to being the biggest waste f talent (technically and natural hand eye stuff) Australia has had with the bat. The more I see him play in any format the more it seems he will never have the temperament at any format at the top level.

I can't figure out why people get worked up when they see guys like Marsh, Dussey, North not performing or being inconsistent. I mean one just needs to have a look at their overall domestic records to figure out that, that's just the way they have performed all through their careers and hence expecting them to become consistent and technically sound all of a sudden at the international level is a tad impractical.

In the last couple of years the only batsman with an inconsistent domestic record who has actually done quite well for us has been Ferguson and yet for some reasons best known to these selectors he is not in our LO sides.

 

[Burgey]

Marsh is in there as well but that's not the point, the thing is it won't have mattered even if Clarke, Ponting and Mussey were playing yesterday because its unlikely they would have played him any differently.

Like you said we have been awful against spin especially in LO cricket over the last two years and that's simply because we are too chicken **** to attack spinners, we have never been great technical players of spin even in the past but one thing we did well back in the day was not allow bowlers especially spinners settle down when they came into bowl.

Likes of Hayden, Symonds, Ponting, Gilly, Martyn, Clarke (of 2007) all had their own ways to tackle spin but all of them did it by attacking spin bowlers , that approach has changed and we are just way too cautious nowadays and that just plays into the hands of the opposition.

I'm not talking about this format though, I mean in general.

Clarke and Ponting are miles better players of spin than the numpties in that T20 line up.

 

[Spark]

I can't figure out why people get worked up when they see guys like Marsh, Dussey, North not performing or being inconsistent. I mean one just needs to have a look at their overall domestic records to figure out that, that's just the way they have performed all through their careers and hence expecting them to become consistent and technically sound all of a sudden at the international level is a tad impractical.

In the last couple of years the only batsman with an inconsistent domestic record who has actually done quite well for us has been Ferguson and yet for some reasons best known to these selectors he is not in our LO sides.

This the same Dussey with a FC average nearing 55 over a lengthy career? And a List A average of 40? I take your point in general but let's be careful here.

 

[Spikey]

iirc with dussey we can do some white-like "yes he has a stunning county but in the shield...." stuff

 

[Spark]

Yeah, true, but his record in Shield cricket is still pretty decent IIRC. Certainly much better than the other listed candidates.

Not that I'm suggesting that we pick him in Tests at all, just pointing out that he's not the best example of someone whose domestic record, statistically, doesn't justify his place.

 

[Spikey]

well dussey's performances for victoria in LO in recent seasons were pretty dreadful. perhaps pup was talking about that

 

[BoyBrumby]

How badly do you think the Sris want to win the Onedayers? They could try saving Mendis for the tests instead of giving Punter, Huss and Clarke a look at him. He does seem to get worked out fairly quickly so it might not be worth sending him out for the ODI series.

Though it would be depressingly worth it to watch Marsh and David Hussey making continual donkeys of themselves.

Whilst accepting that he'll be a much trickier proposition on Sri Lankan pitches that offer a little assistance to the tweakers, I do think Mendis's bowling is something of a massive confidence trick.

He seems to have three main variations: his carrom ball, a standard offie and a googly. I think the fact he has these options plays on batsmen's minds when they first face him and obscures the obvious but rarely stated fact that they all break from off to leg (for right handers). Even if one isn't picking him, I think he can be played pretty comfortably as a slow-medium inswing bowler by anyone with even half an eye or modicum of technique.

But it's an easy game from me sofa, obvz.

 

[Uppercut]

Whilst accepting that he'll be a much trickier proposition on Sri Lankan pitches that offer a little assistance to the tweakers, I do think Mendis's bowling is something of a massive confidence trick.

He seems to have three main variations: his carrom ball, a standard offie and a googly. I think the fact he has these options plays on batsmen's minds when they first face him and obscures the obvious but rarely stated fact that they all break from off to leg (for right handers). Even if one isn't picking him, I think he can be played pretty comfortably as a slow-medium inswing bowler by anyone with even half an eye or modicum of technique.

But it's an easy game from me sofa, obvz.

The carrom ball breaks from leg to off.

Familiarity is quite overplayed when it comes to Mendis I reckon, whether the pitch is turning or not has a huge effect too. None of his deliveries turn big so on quite a few pitches he just becomes a slow bowler, and he doesn't vary his flight which makes him completely straightforward to play when the ball isn't doing anything off the pitch.

 

[Spark]

Familiarity will help the batsmen not **** themselves though and forget that they're not facing Murali and Warne combined, which is what our batsmen seemed to do last night.

 

[SamSawnoff]

Nope (lolPonting). Mind you they smashed him here.

Bloody funny that shot of Punter's. It's a Steve Smith special.

 

[SamSawnoff]

The carrom ball breaks from leg to off.

Familiarity is quite overplayed when it comes to Mendis I reckon, whether the pitch is turning or not has a huge effect too. None of his deliveries turn big so on quite a few pitches he just becomes a slow bowler, and he doesn't vary his flight which makes him completely straightforward to play when the ball isn't doing anything off the pitch.

Yep, that's why he's been lamped from pillar to post in first class cricket in England. He does need turning pitches once the batsmen have an idea of him.

 

[SamSawnoff]

Marsh is in there as well but that's not the point, the thing is it won't have mattered even if Clarke, Ponting and Mussey were playing yesterday because its unlikely they would have played him any differently.

Like you said we have been awful against spin especially in LO cricket over the last two years and that's simply because we are too chicken **** to attack spinners, we have never been great technical players of spin even in the past but one thing we did well back in the day was not allow bowlers especially spinners settle down when they came into bowl.

Likes of Hayden, Symonds, Ponting, Gilly, Martyn, Clarke (of 2007) all had their own ways to tackle spin but all of them did it by attacking spin bowlers , that approach has changed and we are just way too cautious nowadays and that just plays into the hands of the opposition.

Get stitched up against spin in one dayers as well. In that footage of Punter, one of the commentators was talking about how Botha made fools of the Aussies over the summer. must have been 2009 I remember that. It was kind of embarrassing watching them.

The thing is the footwork looks gash which is a recent thing. Symonds, Lehmann and Martyn could all use their feet against spin. Watson doesn't really, but he uses his power and tries to hit so he's not as bad as people like Duss who hasn't looked good against spin in international cricket at all that I've seen and Marsh looked like he just panicked last night.

 

[pup11]

Yeah, true, but his record in Shield cricket is still pretty decent IIRC. Certainly much better than the other listed candidates.

Not that I'm suggesting that we pick him in Tests at all, just pointing out that he's not the best example of someone whose domestic record, statistically, doesn't justify his place.

Let me make this clear... David Hussey is one of my favourite players from the domestic circuit but its a very well known fact that Dussey either scores big runs or gets out cheaply, he is a pretty poor starter and that has been a problem with him all his career and given the team's current predicament we really can't afford to have too many unpredictable players.

At the age of 34 he is no spring chicken either and in the LO sides all he is doing is blocking a place that could be filled by a younger talent like Finch or Ferguson, as a fan I would love to eat my words if Dussey performs in the upcoming ODI series but if that doesn't happen then I don't see any point in having him around.

 

[pup11]

I'm not talking about this format though, I mean in general.

Clarke and Ponting are miles better players of spin than the numpties in that T20 line up.

Clarke and Ponting have been integral parts of our ODI sides for the last two years and honestly they haven't been able to do a toss about our problems against spin, in fact in the last 24 months Ponting generally gets out before the spinners even come on to bowl and Clarke just keeps blocking them with a dead bat.

Like I said in my previous post it has in general never been the Australian way to nurdle and nudge spinners around the park which is something we have been trying to do in LO cricket for a while with disastrous results, I'm just surprised that we haven't even made any real attempts to overcome this problem.

Its true we don't have any spinners in domestic cricket of great pedigree but still you could prepare underprepared practice-wickets for the batsmen to work on and improve their skills against spin, after the worldcup where we literally got owned by pretty much every spinner that rolled his arm over I thought we would have used the four month off-season time to improve our skills and change our tactics against spin bowling but from what we have seen in the first two games of this tour nothing much seems to have changed.